Managing Knowledge and Innovation for Business Sustainability in Africa

Following on the success of the first edition of the book, the purpose of this 2nd edition is to address issues that will be central to Africa’s various attempts to manage effectively knowledge and innovation for sustainable business management. The book is also very timely with the recently launched Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024) by the African Union (AU) emphasising the critical role of science, technology and innovation for Africa’s socio-economic development and growth. Among the key pillars for the AU strategy are the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation as well as providing an enabling environment for STI development in the African continent.

The book adopts a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to issues relating to knowledge and innovation management in Africa. The book also presents few case studies relating to various growing networking and collaboration between education and research institutions, private and public entities as well as commercialisation of research and innovation outputs.

The various chapters in the books provide the current applications and practices in African businesses and their differences from the Western practices. Contributions are from all African countries’ scholars and most importantly WASD members leading major academic and research institutions in the continent as well as WASD various scholars across the world and African scholars who currently live and work outside Africa but able to explain how we shape the future of African business and management higher education to better address the future needs of African business development.

Table of contents

PART I: Introduction

From innovation to sustainability: Life-Cycle polylemmas and strategic initiatives for entrepreneurship in AfricaJerry Kolo

PART II: Innovation and entrepreneurship

The role of an innovative ICT-based entrepreneurial evolution on Africa’s development – the case of university-based incubatorsSherif Kamel

Prospects and challenges of managing clusters as entrepreneurship development interventions for sustainable development in Nigeria: a discourse analysisLukman Raimi, Stephen Bolaji Peluola and Morufu Oladimeji Shokunbi

Understanding how failing a job interview may be a source of innovation: The case of WhatsApp foundersAlain Ndedi and Kelly Mua Kingsley